About Daedalus, his son and his nephew
by bhut
Summary: A story about Daedalus, his son Icarus and his nephew Perdix


**About Daedalus, his son Icarus and his nephew Perdix**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Greek myths._

_Note: story rated T for sexual matters._

… The great inventor Daedalus lived on the island of Crete for long time, in fact, for a _very_ long time… until he decided to leave. You see, the matter about the fact that he helped to disgrace Minos, with the conception and birth of the Minotaur was revealed, and that was not to the taste of the ruler of Crete. His minions began "to dig" under Daedalus, Daedalus became agitated; he called his son, Icarus.

"Son," he tells the latter, "our lives here were good, but they can turn much worse. It is time to leave from here."

"Nothing I do have against this idea," answers the obedient son, "and how will we make this departure? The word of Minos both on Crete, and at the sea sounds equally impressive, Minos will say the word, and we will be dragged to him from anywhere."

Nothing Daedalus said to his son, only smirked. Although Minor is terrible and great, Daedalus is clever and slier: when he wanted to, Daedalus created masts and keels for the ships of Crete, the main body of Minos' army and navy; when he wanted to, Daedalus created a cow, with whose aid queen Pasiphae obtained her night of love with the white bull of Poseidon, after which the man-beast, the man-eater Minotaur appeared in the mortals' world. Is there anything that is impossible for the clever Daedalus?

… Here Daedalus plotted. He walked on Knossos' parapet, he looked at the sky, at the sun, the cloudlets and birds, and he devised. Into his workshop beeswax and bird feathers were brought, and Daedalus made wings. One pair to himself, another for his son.

However, after making the wings, Daedalus called his son again. He said:

"Attach, son, your pair of wings to yourself, and we'll fly from Crete, for I no longer like it here."

(Well, it is known why that is: Minos understood, with whose aid the queen bore at night not a little mouse, nor a frog, but an unknown beast, so to say it diplomatically. He understood, and decided to imprison Daedalus with his son in the same labyrinth, where the Minotaur and its reckless mother were imprisoned.)

"I remind you, son," added Daedalus, "do not fly too low so as not to wet wings in the sea, and do not fly too highly so that they would not burn in the sun. Do you understand?"

"I understand," agreed Icarus, put on his wings, and they flew away.

They flew for an hour, then another, then the third. They fly above the Cretan forests, above the mountain meadows, they fly above the abyss of the sea, and for the first time in his life, the mind of Icarus yielded to his desire, he forgot about the paternal orders, he took to flying high above, above the clouds, and saw the hot sun. The sun burned - brighter than all the fires of the mortal world, all lamps and mirrors made from polished metal, it was brighter than copper and gold. Icarus' head grew dizzy, wax in his wings melted, he collapsed, happy, from above the clouds either onto hard ground or into the abyss of the sea (different people told different tales). To his death.

Inconsolable father, Daedalus, found him. Daedalus found Icarus, and he buried Icarus in an unmarked grave. But as he buried Icarus, Daedalus did not see and hear the quail-bird that sat not far from them in the bushes and it shouted at them, as if it was laughing. But it actually did laugh.

He had lived once, you see, in the proud city of the goddess Athene, namely Athens. Athene had argued once for this city with her uncle, the god of seas, Poseidon. A spring knocked from the cliff by Poseidon with his trident - select my gift, townspeople, and you will be great navigators, you will not be sorry. Athene created the first wild olive in the world - select my gift, and you will be merchants and inventors. She was chosen by the townspeople, and Athens began to grow, the Athenians began to become noted for their trade in everything.

Daedalus lived then in Athens too. Then he had no son, only his nephew, Perdix. The nephew was born, like his uncle: he saw once a fish uneaten by the seagulls, he saw its backbone - and invented the first saw in the world. But after inventing it, Perdix showed it to his dear uncle.

Daedalus said nothing to his nephew; he took him to pray to Pallas Athene, yet failed to do so: Daedalus dropped his nephew halfway from the city's wall. The goddess Athene found such ideas not for her, she saved Perdix's life, and he was turned into a bird - the first quail in the world. Since then, although quail is a bird, it flies badly and low to the ground, it prefers not to fly, but to run.

Nothing did Daedalus learn about this, but if he did learn, so what? You will not change fate, for the life of his nephew Daedalus paid off by the life of his son. History, of course, arranges all in its proper places - who does not know Daedalus with Icarus, but who does know Perdix the quail, yet did this state of affairs made the remainder of Daedalus' life more bearable? Certainly not.

_The morale:_ no matter how skillful and artful you are, no matter if you can fly like the birds – you will not escape fate, it'll repay all of your deeds.


End file.
